Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Two things you don't talk about at dinner parties...

...Theology and Politics.

Scot McKnight has a great post dealing with both. Its his reflection on a book (William Cavanaugh's Theopolitical Imagination) he read that explores the church's relationship with politics. I highly recommend checking out his post. Scot voices some great thoughts that are helpful to me as I continue to grapple with the role church's and pastors play in the political process. (I would recommend the book, but since I haven't read it yet I can't give an informed opinion. So I guess what I can say is: Sounds like an interesting book!)

While I believe we should be active in the process, I do not believe we should ally ourselves to strongly with any one political party - we are called to be a prophetic voice that points to the kingdom of God, not the kingdom that man is trying to build. Thus we need to be able to encourage and critique both/all parties.

Of course it gets a little tricky when we attempt to make ourselves the spokespeople for God. However, I think the themes we find in Scripture, and more specifically Jesus words and deeds in the gospels, aid our discernment in how we vote in order to point towards the ever-present kingdom of God.

Your thoughts?

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